Sunday, Jul. 05, 2009

Iranian aide says opposition is U.S. agent

TEHRAN, Iran -- A top aide to Iran's all-powerful leader has accused the country's main opposition leader of being an American agent who should be tried for treason, increasing the pressure on reformists disputing the outcome of last month's presidential election.

There was no immediate reaction from Mir Hossein Mousavi to the accusation in an editorial Saturday in the conservative daily newspaper Khayan. Mousavi, who claims he was fraudulently deprived of victory in the June 12 election that gave Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term, has not been seen in public in recent days.

The editorial, by Hossein Shariatmadari, a top aide to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, raised the possibility that Mousavi could be arrested and charged like many other pro-reform figures.

The accusation appeared to be part of an effort by the leadership to portray the opposition and those behind the street unrest as agents working for foreign powers.

A detained Iranian employee of the British Embassy has also been charged with harming Iran's national security, his lawyer said Saturday, in a step certain to increase tension with Europe.

In the editorial against Mousavi, Shariatmadari wrote, "It has to be asked whether the actions of (Mousavi and his supporters) are in response to instructions of American authorities."

He added that Mousavi was trying to "escape punishment for murdering innocent people, holding riots, cooperating with foreigners and acting as America's fifth column inside the country" and called for Mousavi and former reformist President Mohammad Khatami to be tried in court for "horrible crimes and treason."

The semi-official news agency Fars reported this week that another prominent reformer, former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, had "confessed that he has provoked people and students to anarchy and riots and velvet revolution."